Today on Sojourner Truth:
The historic Africatown, where the last slave ship (The Clotilda) was recently found, continues its battle against environmental racism. We discuss the history of Africatown and how local residents are working to save historic sights and to fight pollution. Our guest is Joe Womack, the former director of CHESS, which exists to ensure that the Africatown community in Mobile, Alabama is Clean, Healthy, Educated, Safe, & Sustainable. CHESS partners with the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, the HBCU-CBO Gulf Coast Equity Consortium and the Kellogg Foundation to implement strategies and the best practices to improve the quality of life in the region's most underserved areas.
Also, the Donald Trump administration doubles down on his attacks against immigrant communities. Five months ago, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 virus a pandemic. Since then, public health experts have warned of the dangers of the disease spreading in cramped and unsanitary spaces. Along with jails and prisons, these spaces also include migrant detention centers, where entire families are held against their will. These detention centers, run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are petri dishes of infection. Despite numerous warnings from global medical professionals and human rights campaigners, Trump's administration has refused to release migrant families.
For our Campaigners for Black Lives series, we visit the struggle for ethnic studies as a requirement across the Cal State system in California. Our guest is Dr. Melina Abdullah, a professor, author and community organizer in Los Angeles.
